Radiant: Emotional Power
Aug 10, 2018 12:36:33 GMT -6
Post by Traskus on Aug 10, 2018 12:36:33 GMT -6
The Wheel is overseen by Radiant Monarchs who dole out special items that grant incredible power. They wish these things to be used responsibly and for the betterment of all as determined by the Monarch in question. The problem is that these items make people Exalted and we all know how poorly that goes. The Radiant Monarchs created countless trinkets throughout time until the fall of the Eldarin, when their enemies in the Umbra sought to lay them low. The Monarchs only thought to dispense as many of these trinkets as possible, spreading them throughout the wheel to hold the darkness at bay. This birthed the Radiant: those with enough conviction in their hearts to harness the power of these trinkets.
Radiates channel power through their trinkets, worn on their person clear to see. They initially sought to protect the Radiant Monarchs and the newly-crowned Twilight Monarchs, shielding them from the Umbra. Some eventually abandoned that goal and either took the fight to the Umbra itself or sought to make the entire Wheel a static, lifeless mass where nothing would ever change.
These days, Radiates do "good." They act to further what allows their emotional turbine to work, their passions fueling them. They seek to make the Wheel a better place, one person at a time. Their conviction gives them strength. Some Radiates serve the Monarchs, others do as they will.
Emotion is power, and with the Radiant this is literally the case. Hope, love, greed; all of it is drawn from a person's desire to enact change. A Radiant channels this desire and makes it a battery for their power.
Static Powers
Emotional Spectrum: A Radiant comes in one of many varieties based on the emotion they use to fuel their power. Choose one of the following elements when building your character:
Avarice: The hero gains one dot in wealth. The hero may spend Wisps to improve wealth-based rolls by +1k0 per Wisp spent and reduces wealth strain by half their devotion, rounding up to a minimum of 1.
Compassion: The hero gains +1 to wisdom while in Radiant State. The hero treats each Wisp spent as two when casting Healing spells.
Hope: The hero gains +1 to charisma while in Radiant State. The hero may spend a Wisp to treat any one die roll in a social characteristic-based roll they have made as their Devotion. Dice altered this way cannot explode.
Love: The hero gains +1 to fellowship while in Radiant State. The hero's aura is increased by half their devotion and may spend a Wisp to ignore an effect that would forcibly move or knock them down.
Rage: The hero gains +1 to strength while in Radiant State. In addition, treat Radiant State as if it were the Frenzy feat for the purpose of class prerequisites or interactions with other feats. The hero may spend a Wisp to ignore a mind-affecting spell or end a continuous effect on themselves that has a saving throw.
Magical Aptitude: You begin play with one free rank in any Magical School. The character may purchase ranks in that Magical School as if they appeared in any class progression he possesses. Whenever a Radiant rolls for Psychic Phenomena, they may roll twice and choose to have either or both effects occur.
Sensitivity: The Radiates draw their power from their mental state, with all the disruption that can cause. If the hero ever fails an alignment check, fails a fear roll with two or more checks, or runs out of resolve, they immediately revert back to normal and cannot go into their Radiant state for the next 24 hours.
Transformation Trinket: This item takes a variety of forms, always one the wielder finds comfortable like a ring or a broach. The hero gains an item that functions as an artifact charm with one hearthstone slot, with which they may enter their Radiant state. Doing so costs 1 Wisp and a Full Action, and lasts until the end of the scene or the hero can end it early as a free action. While in Radiant State, the hero's attacks all count as magical. Outside their Radiant State the hero is effectively mortal, meanwhile they cannot use the powers granted by this Exaltation except this one or spend Wisps except to enter Radiant State.
Tell: As a Radiant spends Wisps, their body glows with a colored outline. It glows brighter as they spend more. The aesthetic of the Radiant also becomes more pronounced as Wisps are spent.
Power Stat: Inner Light
The light of the Radiant's emotions powers their Exaltation, fueling its growth. As a Radiant's Inner Light grows, they exhibit the emotion (or condition) that gives them strength more than before. A Hopeful will refuse to give up, a Willful will refuse to back down to even an impossible scenario, and a Rageful (yes, this is a real word) grows a hair-trigger temper.
Resource Stat: Wisp
A Radiant's amount of Wisps is equal to their Devotion plus their Inner Light. In narrative time, a Radiant recovers one Wisp every four hours. You also regain one Wisp at the beginning of each scene and every time you succeed at a stunt.
Inner Light | Power Gained
1. Barrier Jacket: The hero gains AP and Aura equal to their Inner Light while in their Radiant State. This qualifies as worn armor for interactions with other armor.
2. Aggressive Negotiation: If the hero were to inflict critical damage on a target, they may instead force that opponent to either gain that many levels of fatigue or lose that much resolve. Targets cannot become jaded to this effect.
3. Embassy: The hero may enter Radiant State as a half action. The hero's background dots cannot be permanently reduced below their Inner Light and do not need other background dots to support them. Allies that die either don't die or are replaced with an ally of equal measure. The hero may also purchase dots in backgrounds (except artifact) as though increasing a skill, keeping to the limits found in character creation.
4. Levity: The hero gains the Flyer trait equal to their ground speed in the Radiant State and may increase their social characteristics to 6.
5. Coronation: The Radiant Monarchs have seen fit to bestow upon you the ultimate measure of their trust. Your Transformation Trinket is destroyed, because you don't need it anymore to use the power. Lose the Sensitivity power. You are always in your Radiant state and any hearthstone that your Trinket contained is now part of you or back in your possession, as desired when gaining this power.
Radiant Calling Assets
Prime Motivators
Hope is actually the most powerful emotion, but not the one best suited to Radiance. No, the three prime motivators are. The Monarchs made precious few trinkets for these motivators, lest they prove too much for the others. Instead of selecting an option from Emotional Spectrum, select one of the following:
Death: The hero gains the Undead trait while in the Radiant State. Levity grants the Stuff of Nightmares trait and affects power characteristics in place of its normal effects. The hero may spend Wisps to improve damage rolls by +1k0 per Wisp spent. Lastly, the hero qualifies as a Vampire for the purposes of Necromancy while in the Radiant State, substituting Inner Light for Blood Potency and Wisps for Vitae.
Life: The hero gains +1 constitution while in the radiant state. The hero does not need to be in the Radiant State to spend Wisps. The hero may perform Healing Surges as a free action. Levity affects physical instead of social characteristics. If the hero were to die, they may instead permanently lose a dot in Inner Light, which may be bought back as normal (this does in fact mean you get whatever hearthstone you implanted into yourself, your transformation trinket, and sensitivity power back if you do this at power stat 5 until you buy it up again).
Will: The hero gains +1 willpower while in the Radiant State. The hero is immune to fear and pinning effects and is considered to have all feats with the same effects for purposes of class progression. You may spend Resolve in place of Wisps. Levity affects resistance instead of social characteristics.
Calling of Clarity
The Radiant Diamonds have a clarity that few can match. Figuratively, they aren't invisible or anything. The hero may spend Wisps to improve focus power tests by +1k0 per Wisp spent.
Calling of Duality
Yeah because this bitch isn't similar enough to Dragonblooded already. You may select a second Emotional Spectrum option, gaining its effects except its characteristic increase.
Call of Duty
The Queen of Hearts is a rock-hard individual who desires her enforcers to survive in today's modern warfare. The hero increases their barrier jacket's AP and their mental defense by half their Devotion while in Radiant State.
Calling of Faith
Faith is a powerful force; the Swords and their Queen know this. If they didn't, their heads would get cut off. The hero's characteristic from their Emotional Spectrum choice is increased by 2 in the Radiant State instead of 1.
Calling of Freedom
The Spades constantly get into trouble. If a hero is being chased by Darkspawn, it's probably a Spade. The hero's static defense is increased by half their Devotion while in Radiant State and the flyer trait provided by Levity has them move twice their ground speed.
Calling of Harmony
The King of Clubs wanted life to grow and thrive, and his world was once composed of layers of plants. When creating spell combos, you may use the combination of highest spell school level that the combo contains to cast and the highest characteristic the constituent spells would use to cast. Spell combos cost 50xp less to create to a minimum of 100xp.
Calling of Hate
The Stormwracked are furious, all the time. All. The time. The hero gains the Hatred (any) and Red Scare feats. The hero may spend HP in place of Wisps.
Calling of Self-Reflection
Some call it solipsism. Others call it vanity. The Heirs of Mirrors just know it gives them power. The hero may ignore the effects of Sensitivity by gaining 1d5 irreducible and irremovable insanity points each time it is triggered.
Radiates: Power from Emotions
Radiant Physical Features
Radiates look like anyone else, even as their power grows. They also dress like anyone else, though with a recognizable pattern. They wear uniforms like a flight suit or lab coat. Even then, there's no way to know for sure without watching them enter the Radiant State. In the Radiant State, the individual wears a regalia reflective of their innermost self. This has visual reference to their emotional state and their calling. For example, a Radiant of compassion and harmony may have plants overgrowing their attire while in the Radiant State while one of hope and dedication wears attire indicative of mourning. The possibilities are limited by the imagination of the individual while being true to themselves.
Radiant Tells
A Radiant's tell is obvious: it's a wispy or solid light. A deathly black light or a sickly green one, but light all the same. It glows the color of their emotion, growing a thick outline around the Radiant. Their Regalia might also have more pronounced features, like the plants visibly growing or an intangible fire blazing around them.
Becoming a Radiant
Almost every Radiant is chosen by a preceding one, handing off their trinket to someone they deem worthy. The Monarchs don't have the time to test this and computers still cannot make judgement calls like a person can. In extreme cases, a Radiant can pass on instructions to their trinket before dying and tell it to find someone who meets "good enough" hard criteria. That person likely doesn't know about them or want anything to do with it, but exhibits the behavior. On average, there is 1 Radiant per emotion per crystal sphere.
Playing a Radiant
A Radiant's power comes from their conviction in their emotions and their beliefs, regardless of what they are. A Khorne follower need not exhibit berserk rage and every alignment had representation in the emotional spectrum at one point or another. The stronger the conviction a Radiant has, the more power they have through their wisps.
Radiates don't have to serve anyone. They can work alone, in groups, for their god, for the Monarchs, or what have you. The variety of possibilities allows players and SMs to create stories around the character. The Radiant's Wisp recovery ties into their alignment in an active manner, so the player has to either create a routine of performing common feats of piety for the SM to rubber stamp resource recovery or find a way to work that into their playstyle (hopefully this one).
When choosing a class, I recommend you invest in devotion-relevant class at least at first. Priests and paladins get pure faith at level 1, which is valuable. Priests get Virgil's guidance at level 2, as well. I intend Radiates choose social classes, but they are not necessary. It is easiest and most rewarding to be a diplomat or magic specialist, but selecting a pure combat class like guardsman will hardly be crippling.
Radiates in-Game
The Radiates' background gives a plethora of opportunities and connections. They have superiors, peers, rivals, enemies without, enemies within, and more.
A good character arc and plot hook is being hired as a Radiant and seeking out the Monarchs to ask what they desire should do with the power. Another is to use the Monarchs are a source of plot hooks and guidance like DC's Guardians of the Universe. Competing for territory with Radiates of a different calling or emotional spectrum can create ongoing conflict of local to cosmic scale.
The enemy of the Radiant is the Umbral, the darkness itself. Ghosts, werewolves, the darkspawn, and other Umbral-relevant beings oppose the Radiant at every turn.
Radiant Culture
Radiants have freedom and variety in their organization. They do meet up and communicate, but the rivalries of their emotion, their calling, and their conviction lead to conflict. Alliances, rivalries, and even conflicts exist among the Monarchs extending to their forces. This leads to Radiates fighting over territory, teaming up for mutual benefit, and establishing areas of influence. The alignment of a Radiate is important to their mechanical behavior, but not to the extent that a Chosen's is. They need not wear the effects of their god , and so may fit in well enough anywhere they go on that level.
Adapting Radiates
Radiates are a transformation archetype with a magical bent (unless you're Khornate, which I tried to accommodate). They can be DC's Lantern Corps types or magical girls, but they can also be a form of angelic being or supernatural law enforcement type. They may also be some sort of supernatural mixed-breed, like a weird different type of dragonblooded. Lastly, they can be a Ben 10-esque transformation hero. Their appearance change is non-mechanical and their "superpower" can portray their magical aptitude.
Calling of Hate
The Stormwracked are furious, all the time. All. The time. The hero gains the Hatred (any) and Red Scare feats. The hero may spend HP in place of Wisps.
Calling of Self-Reflection
Some call it solipsism. Others call it vanity. The Heirs of Mirrors just know it gives them power. The hero may ignore the effects of Sensitivity by gaining 1d5 irreducible and irremovable insanity points each time it is triggered.
These were some emotional spectrum options I had in the notepad and couldn't bear to get rid of, so they're going here. They round out the "increase characteristic by 1" options, Lantern emotions, and Princess Callings.
Fear: Gain the Fear (Inner Light) trait in Radiant State. You are immune to fear and pinning effects and are considered to have all feats granting such immunity for purposes of class progression.
Seeker: Gain +1 intelligence while in Radiant State. The Radiant may spend a Wisp to gain the dark sight trait and selectively see through obscuring objects such as non-magical fog, wood, brick, and the like until the end of the scene.
Troubador: Gain +1 dexterity while in Radiant State. The Radiant may spend a half action to grant allies a +1k0 bonus to their next roll or a full action to grant +0k1. This qualifies as Aid Another and Support actions. The number of allies affected can be up to the Radiant's dots in Perform.
Fear: Gain the Fear (Inner Light) trait in Radiant State. You are immune to fear and pinning effects and are considered to have all feats granting such immunity for purposes of class progression.
Seeker: Gain +1 intelligence while in Radiant State. The Radiant may spend a Wisp to gain the dark sight trait and selectively see through obscuring objects such as non-magical fog, wood, brick, and the like until the end of the scene.
Troubador: Gain +1 dexterity while in Radiant State. The Radiant may spend a half action to grant allies a +1k0 bonus to their next roll or a full action to grant +0k1. This qualifies as Aid Another and Support actions. The number of allies affected can be up to the Radiant's dots in Perform.
Radiates: Power from Emotions
Radiant Physical Features
Radiates look like anyone else, even as their power grows. They also dress like anyone else, though with a recognizable pattern. They wear uniforms like a flight suit or lab coat. Even then, there's no way to know for sure without watching them enter the Radiant State. In the Radiant State, the individual wears a regalia reflective of their innermost self. This has visual reference to their emotional state and their calling. For example, a Radiant of compassion and harmony may have plants overgrowing their attire while in the Radiant State while one of hope and dedication wears attire indicative of mourning. The possibilities are limited by the imagination of the individual while being true to themselves.
Radiant Tells
A Radiant's tell is obvious: it's a wispy or solid light. A deathly black light or a sickly green one, but light all the same. It glows the color of their emotion, growing a thick outline around the Radiant. Their Regalia might also have more pronounced features, like the plants visibly growing or an intangible fire blazing around them.
Becoming a Radiant
Almost every Radiant is chosen by a preceding one, handing off their trinket to someone they deem worthy. The Monarchs don't have the time to test this and computers still cannot make judgement calls like a person can. In extreme cases, a Radiant can pass on instructions to their trinket before dying and tell it to find someone who meets "good enough" hard criteria. That person likely doesn't know about them or want anything to do with it, but exhibits the behavior. On average, there is 1 Radiant per emotion per crystal sphere.
Playing a Radiant
A Radiant's power comes from their conviction in their emotions and their beliefs, regardless of what they are. A Khorne follower need not exhibit berserk rage and every alignment had representation in the emotional spectrum at one point or another. The stronger the conviction a Radiant has, the more power they have through their wisps.
Radiates don't have to serve anyone. They can work alone, in groups, for their god, for the Monarchs, or what have you. The variety of possibilities allows players and SMs to create stories around the character. The Radiant's Wisp recovery ties into their alignment in an active manner, so the player has to either create a routine of performing common feats of piety for the SM to rubber stamp resource recovery or find a way to work that into their playstyle (hopefully this one).
When choosing a class, I recommend you invest in devotion-relevant class at least at first. Priests and paladins get pure faith at level 1, which is valuable. Priests get Virgil's guidance at level 2, as well. I intend Radiates choose social classes, but they are not necessary. It is easiest and most rewarding to be a diplomat or magic specialist, but selecting a pure combat class like guardsman will hardly be crippling.
Radiates in-Game
The Radiates' background gives a plethora of opportunities and connections. They have superiors, peers, rivals, enemies without, enemies within, and more.
A good character arc and plot hook is being hired as a Radiant and seeking out the Monarchs to ask what they desire should do with the power. Another is to use the Monarchs are a source of plot hooks and guidance like DC's Guardians of the Universe. Competing for territory with Radiates of a different calling or emotional spectrum can create ongoing conflict of local to cosmic scale.
The enemy of the Radiant is the Umbral, the darkness itself. Ghosts, werewolves, the darkspawn, and other Umbral-relevant beings oppose the Radiant at every turn.
Radiant Culture
Radiants have freedom and variety in their organization. They do meet up and communicate, but the rivalries of their emotion, their calling, and their conviction lead to conflict. Alliances, rivalries, and even conflicts exist among the Monarchs extending to their forces. This leads to Radiates fighting over territory, teaming up for mutual benefit, and establishing areas of influence. The alignment of a Radiate is important to their mechanical behavior, but not to the extent that a Chosen's is. They need not wear the effects of their god , and so may fit in well enough anywhere they go on that level.
Adapting Radiates
Radiates are a transformation archetype with a magical bent (unless you're Khornate, which I tried to accommodate). They can be DC's Lantern Corps types or magical girls, but they can also be a form of angelic being or supernatural law enforcement type. They may also be some sort of supernatural mixed-breed, like a weird different type of dragonblooded. Lastly, they can be a Ben 10-esque transformation hero. Their appearance change is non-mechanical and their "superpower" can portray their magical aptitude.
